Who Has the Highest Chess ELO of All Time?

Chess is the oldest game in the world that has survived to this day. And this game holds plenty of history within it. So, who is the greatest player of all time in the history of the world's oldest game? Just like the GOAT debate that goes on in many sports, this one is inevitable in chess too. In this article, we looked for the answer to this question through ELO ratings. What is the highest chess ELO ever? First of all, what is ELO and how is it calculated? Who are the best chess players? The answers are in this article!

What Is Chess ELO?

ELO is a ranking and rating system. It takes its name from Arpad Elo. It's used as a scoring system in two-player games like chess and Go. It's also used for a similar purpose in some multiplayer video games. So the term ELO isn't just used in chess — it can be used in many other games too. So who is the person with the highest ELO ever?

What Is the Highest Chess ELO Ever?

The person who has reached the highest ELO to date is Magnus Carlsen, at 2882. In other words, the chess player with the highest ELO in history is none other than today's World Champion, Magnus Carlsen. The champion broke the all-time ELO record in May 2014 at age 23, and no one has come close to it since. The names behind Carlsen, in order, are as follows:

What Is ELO Inflation in Chess?

The list above shows the players' highest-ever ELO ratings, the date they reached them, and how old they were at that time. So if we go by peak performances, we can see that players rank in order like Carlsen, Kasparov, Caruana. But is calculating ELO this way accurate? Like many things in our lives, ELO becomes inflated over time. When Kasparov reached 2851 points, the average ELO of the top 100 players was 2601. When Carlsen broke the record, the average was 2657. If we do the math proportionally, Kasparov's 2851 points look more impressive than Carlsen's 2882. Carlsen achieved his higher ELO at a time when ELOs in general were higher. This is partly down to ELO inflation.

It wouldn't be wrong to say the ELO system is meant to compare players from the same era, rather than players from different eras. All we need to know is that ELO is a suitable method for comparing players within the same period.

Chess Ranking Methods Other Than ELO

ELO is of course not the only ranking method in chess. Many other metrics and systems are also used. What you see below is Chessmetrics, a system created by a person named Jeff Sonas. This Chessmetrics system, which ranks past-era players based on their opponents and the strength of their games, stopped in 2004. That's why names like Carlsen and Nepomniachtchi aren't on this list. Still, for those who want to look into players of the past, here's the list.

Who Is the Best in Chess?

When we look at the results, we can see that a different grandmaster was the best of their era at many different points in time. Today, the question "Who's better, Garry Kasparov or Magnus Carlsen?" stands out. If I have to give my personal opinion, I'm on the side of innovation and the future in every sport. I believe every player who comes along builds on what the previous one left behind. So if my opinion is asked, I think Magnus Carlsen is a better chess player than Garry Kasparov, and even the greatest grandmaster of all time.

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